1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heat monitoring instrument that monitors the state of an increase in the temperature of tissue of a subject when executing thermal therapy, and a thermal therapy apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Thermal therapy is known that is performed with respect to tissue of an organism such as a human where the subject's tissue is heated. Thermal therapy, for example, causes tissue to generate heat by applying a high-frequency voltage, microwaves radio waves or by irradiation of ultrasound with respect to tissue from a thermal therapy instrument inserted into the body of the subject. As disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 8-308853, thermal therapy is used for therapy that kills tumor cells in tissue and the like.
In the case of heating tissue by thermal therapy, heat is conveyed to the therapy object and to tissue surrounding the therapy object, where it is desirable to avoid a situation in which the heating affects tissue that is not the therapy object. Consequently, a technique is proposed that monitors the temperature of tissue using thermography or a thermocouple when executing thermal therapy.